However, the film has a major shortcoming; I am not sure how accurate the portraying of the Indian family is, but I think (and hope) that it is very wrong. The family becomes a parody of themselves, leaving the whole movie with an undercurrent of race issues that I would think we should be over by now.

Update: a noder points out that things really can be this bad in some families. In that case, part of my criticism of the film falls away, but another part becomes apparent: If things are really this bad, then the filmmakers should somehow have tried to make the whole film more believable.

Mind you, the film is definitely worth watching for the girls alone. But wait a minute - wasn't all of this about giving girl football a chance? All in all, Bend it like Beckham was a good idea that failed miserably at having any deeper meaning. Just another entertainment flick, in other words.